(no subject)

We didn't do much yesterday, not even the things we'd meant to do like making bread. Scott fiddled around with the machine that will be our new web server once he's got it fully up to date (and once there's room in the study for him to move it in there. That won't happen until our tree comes down). I think he mostly had it downloading software that it will need. While it was doing that, he played games on his laptop. I didn't even do that much.

I'm not really sure how I filled in the hours because I don't have anything to point to and say, "Yes, I got that done."

Cordelia spent pretty much the whole day reading. She has finished Insurgent (liked it) and Allegiant (hated the ending) and is, I believe, currently working on the related short story collection, Four. I'm glad I managed to get her those books for Christmas.

I still have a handful of December meme prompts to write to. I haven't given up on doing them. I just keep forgetting about them when I have time to write (like yesterday). There's one I should have done on New Year's Eve, and I'll try to do that one today.

I wish the DVDs I've had on hold from the library didn't keep coming in during vacation when I can't watch them. I had season 1 of The Musketeers and had to return it unwatched, and I have something called Red Data Girl (It's anime. I think it's complete in one DVD), and I won't be able to watch that before it's due on Sunday. Both Red Data Girl and The Musketeers have waitlists. It'll be a while before I can get either again.

I'm getting frustrated with Colloquy as a way of using IRC. Half the time, it won't reconnect after my laptop has been shut, and I can't simply close the chat room and reopen it. The program will ignore my efforts to open anything at that point. Instead, I have to quit the program and restart it. It also, when my internet connection glitches, disconnects from the chat room and doesn't tell me that it has done so. My only clue is when things go completely silent for longer than I expect, and again, my only recourse is to quit the program and restart it.

Colloquy also has the problem that, if someone PMs me, the notification of that flashes on the screen briefly then vanishes. If I miss it, I have no way of knowing that someone is trying to talk to me unless (which is unlikely) I happen to scroll down the list of chat participants and see the PM window option waiting for me.

I have checked to be sure that I have the most recent version of Colloquy, and I do. Some of the problem may come from it interacting with my OS as I'm a step or two behind the most recent OS for Macs. Scott intends to update my OS eventually, but it's not really a high priority as if doesn't affect most of what I do. The only thing I've noticed is that, although the FaceTime icon appears in my dock, I can't run the program.

Scott found a list of IRC programs that should work with my laptop, and I'm considering trying one of them. It's just hard to venture into the unknown and learn a new program. The programs on the list, apart from Colloquy, are XChat Azure 1.13.4, Textual 2.1.1, LimeChat 2.33, and Snak 5.3.4. I'm not even sure where to start. Has anybody used any of these programs?

I'm thinking that I want to hang out in #yuletide this year in hopes that I can find people willing to do word wars with me. That seems to be a really good way to get me writing even when I'm feeling blocked. Chat is also a way to feel like I'm interacting with people (even when I don't say much), and I could really use that.

(no subject)

December 31: your favorite moment of the month. (for zhelana)

This one is hard because my moments blur into one another. There don't tend to be events in my life that stand out, either positively or negatively. I'm largely content with my life. The really good moments are things like when Cordelia hugs me (I know that will stop some time in the next year or two, so I'm savoring the hugs now) or when Scott rubs my back.

I took pleasure in seeing Scott and Cordelia open presents I'd picked out for them on Christmas morning, and I was quite pleased when I posted my Yuletide story and again when it got good feedback, both kudos and comments. I just don't know if any of those was my favorite moment. I felt a sense of accomplishment with regard to all the baking and food preparation I did in getting ready for Christmas. I particularly enjoyed making lemon bars (even though they didn't come out very well) because Cordelia helped me. Both of us standing together by the mixer, wearing aprons and measuring out ingredients was pretty neat. I did enjoy putting up the Christmas tree. That was more in watching Cordelia trying to find the exact right place to put each ornament than in anything else.

There were a lot of good moments in December. I don't think I can pick an absolute favorite, though. None of the highs were spectacularly higher than the others, not enough to be obviously better than the others. I feel sort of like picking a favorite decreases the value of all those other good moments.